Hair styling involves techniques that require creativity and technical precision. Training and experience are paramount to being successful at hair styling. However, even the most highly trained and experienced stylist must deal with different hair types, different skin sensitivities, and with customers that request and expect precision cuts and styles. One specific challenge to many stylists or barbers is the need to accurately and reproducibly provide a certain length of hair during the same hair cut as well as between independent haircuts while taking into account the customer's unique hair type and skin sensitivity. The length of hair, when trimmed using standard hair clippers, is directly related to the distance between the cutting edges of the cutting blade and the guide blade of traditional hair clippers. In order to reproducibly provide accurate trim length, the barber must utilize the same distance between these blade edges each time and within the same haircut. Normal wear and tear of the hair clippers can cause changes in the distance between the two blade edges. The change in distance between the blade edges, regardless of cause, can be unpredictable and inconsistent.
For a barber to obtain a consistent haircut within the same and between independent trims of a client, the barber must be able to calibrate the clippers by resetting the clippers' cutting and guide blades to a desired distance in relation to each other. Of particular concern for a stylist or especially a barber are those customers that have very short hair, where slight imperfections in length, shape, or angles of hair along the hairline are highly noticeable and undesirable. Similarly, a skilled barber would have a strong interest in being able to replicate prior, unique haircuts for individual clients, i.e., the ability to customly calibrate clippers for each client.
Currently known tools for calibrating cutting and guide blade distances are different from the current invention in specific and critical ways. Prior tools, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. Application No. 20120198716, are focused on simply a resetting of the factory distances between the cutting and guide blades. These tools do not provide any customization of the distances between the blades—instead a solid “block [that] has the exact form of a perfectly adjusted set of trimmer blades.” (¶ 0023). This disclosure clearly only envisions one fixed and pre-determined distance between the cutting and guide blades, rather than the customizable distances provided by the instant invention. These tools also do not provide a slideable guide plate necessary to accomplish said customizable distances. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 7,290,349 to Carpenter discloses a tool for setting distances between the “reciprocating” and “stationary” blades of electric hair trimmers However, this disclosure also fails to provide the user the capability of customizing the distances between the two blades of the trimmer per the preference or request of the client, Instead, as shown in FIG. 1 of the '349 patent, there is only one setting for the distance between the two blades. Claim 10reiterates this disclosure by stating that the “clearance between a reciprocating blade and a stationary blade about 0.024 and 0.025 inches.” There is no disclosure in this reference of varying the distance between the two blades' edges nor is there any support for modifying the disclosed tool to achieve the same.
While it is known in the art that adjustable distances between the edges of the cutting blade and guide blade are desired, any disclosure of how to accomplish a custom distance is minimal and distinct from the instant invention. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,350,314 to McCambridge discloses setting an offset between the cutting and guide blades. The '314 patent fails to disclose use of the device for different size blade sets for use with a variety of commercially-available clippers, as is possible with and encompassed by the instant invention.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the issues and limitations of prior art tools set forth above.